


Balance

by ottermo



Series: Predictions [3]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: F/M, Series 3 Predictions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 23:42:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14681946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: After an attack on the synth community, Flash senses that Max feels responsible for the loss.





	Balance

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the S3 Predictions challenge on tumblr. I think this might be one of my closest hits, except it's going to differ in one horribly tragic way. 
> 
> BUT I CAN STILL BE IN DENIAL UNTIL TOMORROW NIGHT! So there's that.

 

Max is the one who’s never ruffled, never panicked, never anything but a gentle, soothing presence. Others come to him for advice, solace, a listening ear. He is a beacon of hope that one day all of this will become stiller, safer, better. Once, Mattie described his smile as being as calming as whalesong.

That is the Max most people see. Sometimes Flash sees a different one.

Tonight, he is staring out of the window. He has not spoken to her for some minutes (nineteen, if she’s counting, which part of her brain always is). She doesn’t disturb him when he’s strategising, usually: she knows he has a lot on his mind, a lot of people counting on him.

But tonight he has been too quiet for too long, and she has a good idea of the reason. Flash crosses the room, stepping carefully around the other fugitives, who are all charging soundly. She stands next to him, one arm stealing around his back.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she says, softly.

Max speaks kindly, but she can hear how much he doesn’t believe her. “I may not have caused it, but I am responsible. Some things are a little more complex…”

“Not this one,” she insists. “I know you have been awake much longer than me, but this is not something beyond my understanding. I’m not offering false comfort, Max, it’s just the truth. You could not have known.”

“I should have been prepared. I could have pre-empted this.”

“How?”

He leaves the window, increasing the distance between them. “It wasn’t a new trick. They did the same thing at Qualia. Mattie spoke about coding an override weeks ago, but I put her on a different team instead of giving her the time to work on it.”

Flash hears the despair rising in his voice, and though it’s so foreign coming from him, she senses that he needs to finish. She waits.

“I should never have let them go. It was too great a risk. Hubert was in that team, Flash. He was family. What would I do if—” He cuts off the code, opts for something more concise. “It could have been  _you_.”

“It wasn’t.”

“But it could have been. Every single day I’m responsible for the survival of those of us who are left. The people I love most in the world. Usually I can balance it.”

“But some days are harder than others.”

“Yes.”

Flash comes close again, takes his hand. “You’re not doing this alone.”

For a moment he seems ready to disagree, so she adds, “I mean it. Even when you feel alone, we’re all here. We’re all fighting the same fight.” She looks him square in the eyes. “Beside you, not behind you.”

In place of words, he presses his forehead to hers, and she takes the liberty of reading his charge levels in the share space. “You should charge before you crash out,” she says, suddenly matter-of-fact in the midst of tenderness.

Max smiles. It’s almost the real thing. “Thank you, Flash.”

She smiles back. “You can turn on an alert for when you drop below 10 percent.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.”

She finds them both chargers, and they tap out twin rhythms as the current flows through them, revitalising them for the new day that’s almost ready to dawn.

Things will be brighter in the morning, Flash is sure.

 


End file.
